138th Year... and still on the job!	Thursday May 03, 2007

Chairman Klomp steps down from chem demil commission



By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAN

After nine years of helping to represent the community in dealings with the Defense Department and its plans to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, John Klomp said Wednesday night he believed the process had acquired enough momentum and it was time for him to do other things.

Klomp, chairman of the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission, said Wednesday's meeting of the commission would be his last.

The commission named Irene Kornelly, a Colorado Springs resident who is a national expert on military base closures, interim chair of the commission.

Klomp joined the CAC in 1998 when he was still a Pueblo County Commissioner, taking the place of Richard Martinez, another commissioner. Term-limited, Klomp's status later changed to a citizen member and Pueblo County Commissioner Anthony Nunez now holds the seat representing local government.

Gov. Bill Ritter will name Klomp's replacement.

Klomp said that his primary goals were to see the mustard agent stockpile safely destroyed and the community benefit economically from the process.

Even though the process will take longer than expected and, with 800 workers, provide a lower number of jobs than planned, it will mean that Puebloans will be working longer, Klomp said. "For many of these people, this could well be a career and for others could lead to a longer career," he said.

"This program is now moving forward under full steam," he said. With construction of a processing plant coming soon, "we have reached that point of no return," Klomp added, explaining that it was doubtful the Defense Department would cut funding again. "We shouldn't have the glitches we've had in the past."

Klomp said that he plans to become involved in economic development efforts and spend more time training his hunting dog. At the end of the meeting, Kevin Flamm, acting manager of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, presented Klomp with the Commander's Award for Public Service.

Some of the ongoing economic impact of the program was outlined by Paul Henry, manager of the project for Bechtel.

Henry said that Bechtel has awarded contracts worth $55.4 million as of April 30, $22.5 million of that to Pueblo firms, $15.7 million to other Colorado firms and $17.1 million outside of Colorado.

Bechtel has 110 people working here, 20 of them hired locally, he said, and between 50 and 75 construction workers on a daily basis.

The company recently awarded a $1.6 million contract to Pueblo's Industrial Constructors/Managers for a multipurpose building. Upcoming awards include civil engineering and foundation work, plumbing, electrical, mechanical and finishing projects.